Following a visit to the Narran Lakes and Walgett earlier this month Greens MLC Lee Rhiannon is calling for a stop to any expansion of opal mining at Opal Prospecting Area 4 (OPA4) until areas one, two and three are exhausted of opal and rehabilitated.
Only one space on the property ‘Kurrajong’ is currently open to mining on OPA4 but Lightning Ridge Miners Association (LRMA) secretary Maxine O’Brien said they hoped to open up space at Barfield next.
The other opal mining areas are located closer to Lightning Ridge. OPA1 is located around the town, OPA2 is further north and covers half of Wyoming while OPA3 runs from the Coocoran to Glengarry.
Ms O’Brien said the LRMA had signed an access management agreement with the landholder, but were waiting for the department to finalise their requirements under the EPA act.
However, Ms Rhiannon said she wanted Mineral Resources minister Ian McDonald to inspect the area before he considered any expansion request.
“One of the concerns of the Greens is that there is plans by the opal miners associations to expand,” Ms Rhiannon said on Wednesday. “But the Green’s aren’t against opal mining.”
Ms Rhiannon’s statement came following her visit to the area recently. She was invited by the Dharriwaa elders group who expressed their concern about further expansion of OPA4.
Meanwhile, Ms O’Brien said it was not feasible to wait until other opal mining areas were exhausted and rehabilitated before anything else opened up.
“You don’t know if it’s worked out or not, you never know,” she said.
Ms O’Brien said several sites had already been rehabilitated and there were three more in the works. There are two stages to the rehabilitation process, the first involves getting the titleholder to remove all machinery and white dirt.
Ms O’Brien said a levee put on all title holders allowed the LRMA to remove any excess mullock and repair any depressions which is part of stage two.
“Because we are such a small scale there is a relatively low impact,” Ms O’Brien said of the overall damage done to the environment.
She said in the initial assessment aspects of flora, fauna and cultural heritage sites were all taken into account and environmental and culturally vulnerable areas were exempt from mining.
However, Ms Rhiannon said she did not see any evidence of rehabilitation during her trip.
She also said she was concerned about the rehabilitation levee imposed on miners.
“The levee for rehabilitation is incredibly low, $30 per claim is not credible.”